Day 63: Masoba-Soba Lodge (Lesotho) – Khotso Horsetrail and Overland Campsite (South Africa)

That was probably the coldest night with rain and sleet showers. For trips to colder regions in the future we will need different sleeping bags and a warmer duvet.

We are lucky, the sun comes out around 6:00 and we take the opportunity to have breakfast.

On the way to the border there is the supposedly highest bar, but we are not in the mood for a cold beer right now :-)

Stamping out of Lesotho is easy, and some kind of stamp is also pressed onto the CdP.

Then it goes down, quite steeply, on gravel and with hairpin bends. Rideable and spectacular. We are lucky again and the sky keeps opening up – the views are simply magnificent.

In the upper part there are – depending on the wind and weather – a few options for a wild camp. But will we come back here?

As we descend, more and more cars come towards us – many of them are obviously taking a booked tour to the pass and back.

And we meet Martin and Sabine from Germany. A nice exchange along the way.

We go from around 2,800 to 1,400 m, it becomes greener and a little warmer.

In Underberg we go shopping: we stock up on groceries at Superspar – almost like a weekly shop at home :-) And in a farm shop we actually find a new Bialetti. Our old cafettiere is giving up after many years and trips.

Our destination for today – and probably the next few days – is Khotso Horse Trails and Overland Campsite. When we arrive, Adrian greets us. How funny: He saw us standing in Sehlabathebe NP and we watched him with a group of riders. And in fact, the two places are only a good 30 km apart as the crow flies.

A few more thoughts on Lesotho:

The landscape is breathtakingly beautiful. The round hut villages and the riders and shepherds in their colorful blankets were very picturesque for us. As we have already noted in the past few days, the people do not seem to be as badly off as we sometimes noticed on the west coast. Nevertheless: The country is poor and in debt, the agricultural land is almost exclusively terraced, the climate is exhausting, life is hard and challenging. We have read that there is a high suicide rate and a problem with drugs (marijuana is also exported). Men and women do not live past the age of mid-50s on average.

The contrast is even more obvious when comparing Lesotho to a small place like Underberg in SA. Here everything is well structured, tidy, pleasant, modern and in the supermarket almost everything that we know from the big cities in Europe is available. You really are moving in two worlds.